First victims of biological warfare

The United States and Britain continue to bomb Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein has a hidden programme of chemical and biological arms. One of the declared objectives of Washington’s foreign policy is to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Recently declassified archives now reveal, however, that the US was the first country to incorporate biological warfare into its military doctrine. And there are indications that it was used, at least on an experimental basis, during the Korean war.

by Stephen Endicott and
Edward Hagerman

"I went to China in 1952 wanting to assess the assertions of germ warfare ... I came away convinced that Chinese officials believed that the evidence was conclusive. On returning, Alan Watt, my successor as permanent head of the Australian Department of External Affairs, informed me that in (...)